Quarter turn clip are regularly used in the vehicle environment as quick mounting fasteners. Particularly this kind of clips is one of the available options for connecting mechanically a vehicle panel, such as a door module carrier, to the vehicle metal sheet plate.
The quarter turn clip passes through aligned apertures of the vehicle panel and the metal sheet plate and then it is rotated 90° in order to carry out the connection between them.
In this way, the vehicle panel can be connected to the vehicle metal sheet plate in a quick and simple manner.
This kind of clips should perform several functions during the mounting process such as ensuring the insertion position by aligning the clip and the hole, the angular position of the clip with regard to the hole, and also in the final mounting position ensuring the assembly tension and the sealing of the holes.
A general configuration of a quarter turn clip comprises along the longitudinal main axle of the quarter turn clip, a neck or post, and a head having two tension ramps which ensure an optimal tension in the final mounting position.
Additionally the quarter turn clip comprises elastic elements in order to connect the clip to the vehicle metal sheet plate and/or elastic elements in order pre-mount the clip to the vehicle panel and one or two sealing rings in order to ensure the sealing of the different holes.
The mounting way of the quarter turn clip depends on the specific configuration of the different parts of the clip and their relative position along the longitudinal main axle of the clip.
Thus one known example from the American patent U.S. Pat. No. 6,612,795 comprises a quarter turn clip having a head with two ramps and a post projected from the head along the main longitudinal axle of the clip. The post comprises a first portion, a first sealing ring, a second portion, a second sealing ring, a third portion and two elastic tabs angularly projected from one end of the post for connecting the quarter turn clip to the vehicle metal sheet plate. Therefore the two elastic tabs and the head with the ramps are placed at opposite sides of the sealing rings.
According to the final mounting position of the assembly, the vehicle metal sheet plate is located between the two elastic tabs and the second sealing ring and the vehicle panel is located between the head with the ramps and the first sealing ring.
Therefore the first sealing ring ensures the sealing of the hole of the vehicle panel, the second sealing ring ensures the sealing of the hole of the vehicle metal sheet plate and the head with the two ramps ensures the tension of the vehicle panel against the first sealing ring.
A drawback of the quarter turn clip described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,612,795 is the weak retention of the clip on the vehicle metal sheet plate by the two elastic tabs.
Other drawback of the quarter turn clip described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,612,795 is the difficult of mounting the assembly due to the quarter turn clip cannot be pre-mounted on the vehicle panel in such a way that the assembly formed by the vehicle panel and the quarter turn clip can be mounted on the vehicle metal sheet plate as an only assembly. It is due to the quarter turn clip does not comprises pre-mounting means of the quarter turn clip to the vehicle panel.
In order to overcome the above drawbacks, it is known the configuration of the American patent U.S. Pat. No. 7,955,038. It comprises a retention wing having a sealing ring, a neck or post and a head having two ramps and two elastic pre-mounting tabs.
The two elastic pre-mounting tabs allow pre-mounting the quarter turn clip into the vehicle panel and then this assembly is mounted on the vehicle metal sheet plate.
Then the quarter turn clip mounted on the vehicle panel is aligned with hole of the vehicle metal sheet plate and introduced through it until the head with the ramps passes through said hole.
Then, the quarter turn clip is rotated in order to the head with the ramps pushes the vehicle panel against the vehicle metal sheet plate, reaching in this way the final mounting position.
Therefore, in this case the vehicle panel and the vehicle metal sheet plate are retained in contact one with each other between the ramps and the sealing ring.
The both known quarter turn clips disclosed above have in common that both are mounted on rigid vehicle panels made of non-deformable materials having into account the forces usually applied during the mounting process of the assembly. Therefore the elasticity properties of the material of the rigid vehicle panel do not contribute to the mounting kinematics of the assembly.
The object of the invention is a quick assembly fastener and particularly a quarter turn clip for connecting a vehicle metal sheet plate and an expanded polypropylene vehicle panel being able to ensure with a more simple design, the common functions of this kind of clips when they are used in combination with non-deformable vehicle panels, that is a quarter turn clip which before the mounting process allowing a pre-mounting position of the quarter turn clip on the vehicle panel, during the mounting process ensuring the insertion position by aligning the clip and the hole, and ensuring the angular position of the clip with regard to the hole, and in the final mounting position ensuring the assembly tension and the sealing of the different holes of the vehicle metal sheet plate and the expanded polypropylene vehicle panel.